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Despite a nagging rib cage injury that has prevented him from practising or playing for the last three weeks, Mike Weir was able to fashion an even par round of 72 in the first round of the Masters Tournament Thursday to sit in the top one-third of the pack.

Weir, who became the only Canadian ever to win a major golf championship 10 years ago this week at Augusta, had been a doubtful starter prior to his decision Wednesday to give it a try.

“That’s what I wanted to do: Get somewhere around par,” said Weir. “Under par would have been nice, but I got it back to par and I’m in a good position. My expectations weren’t real high, but something in my gut told me I was going to find a way to score. I’ve played this golf course so much that I felt like if I could just get the ball in the fairway, I know the right angles and the right spots to be on the greens. I did a really good job of that today. I was on the correct side of the hole a lot.”

Weir made three birdies and offset those with three bogeys, finishing his round with a solid 15-foot birdie putt at the 18th green. It matched his best Masters score since he shot 71 in the first round in 2010.

Because of his injury, Weir was forced to ratchet back on his swings off the tees and felt that might have helped him keep his drives in the fairways for the most part.

“Maybe that’s kind of a nice recipe,” he said. “There is a temptation to go after it a little bit because the golf course is so long. I had to reel that in a bit today. I hit one pretty hard on 11 but, other than that, I was at 80-85%. The ball was still getting out there a decent distance. It’s amazing what can happen when you hit the ball with the centre of the clubface. Sometimes when that happens it gets out there further with a slower swing than a fast swing.”

Weir played one of his best rounds of the year from tee to green and had seven or eight good looks at birdies, but his putting was only average.

“There were a lot of good looks,” agreed Weir. “They weren’t five feet, but they were 15 feet and in the right spot. Just a little off with pace or a little off on line. I just didn’t quite get it together.”

Because of the injury, Weir was unable to swing at max-effort. That may have turned out to be a positive thing in the big picture of his solid round.

Weir experienced pain on a couple of his drives, particularly his drive on the eighth hole, but said it was still much better than he had experienced at the time of the injury in Orlando.

Mike Weir happy with first round at the Masters

Despite a nagging rib cage injury that has prevented him from practising or playing for the last three weeks, Mike Weir was able to fashion an even par 72 in the first round of The Masters Thursday.

Weir, who became the only Canadian ever to win a major golf championship 10 years ago this week at Augusta, had been a doubtful starter prior to his decision Wednesday to give it a try.

"My expectations weren't real high but something in my gut told me I was going to find a way to score," said Weir. "I've played this golf course so much that I felt like if I could just get the ball in the fairway, I know the right angles and the right spots to be on the greens. I did a really good job of that today. I was on the correct side of the hole a lot."

Weir made three birdies and offset those with three bogeys, finishing his round with a solid 15-foot birdie putt at the 18th green.